Lenin's body should be buried - Russian human rights commissioner

Moscow, October 25, Interfax - The body of Vladimir Lenin and the remains of the Soviet Communist Party leaders must be removed from the Kremlin wall and reburied, but exactly when this should be done must be discussed separately, Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin has said.

"It is not a matter of 'Yes' or 'No'. No queries should arise here. Concerning 'When' - that is a more difficult question for me. I would not like old people - even if we think they were wrong - to be hurt so seriously at the end of their lives," Lukin said at a news conference at Interfax on Thursday.

"Therefore, the question 'When' is more difficult and more subtle, and must be handled taking many problems into account, including this one," Lukin said.

Yabloko Party leader Grigory Yavlinsky, who took part in the news conference, said that, "the legal aspect is only one side of the problem. The issue is that the state must assess everything and name all and say firmly that the present-day Russian state is by no means the successor of all this. An assessment should be made and all i's should be dotted and t's crossed - this is the most essential aspect of Russian self-identification," he said.

"But this has not been done. I think it would have no sense to discuss technical issues (of reburial)," Yavlinsky said.

Another speaker, Chairman of the International Society Memorial Arseny Roginsky, said Lenin's body and the remains of Soviet leaders should be re-buried. But the Mausoleum should be preserved - if only so it would not be privatized," Roginsky said.